Date December 11, 2025
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A school transformed

Over the past five years, the Brown University School of Public Health has undergone a profound transformation, evolving into one of the nation’s most impactful public health institutions. During the tenure of Dean Ashish K. Jha, the school navigated unprecedented times in public health and higher education, emerging more inclusive, more interdisciplinary and deeply prepared for the challenges ahead.

Looking back, in February of 2020, when a health policy expert from Harvard was announced as the new dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health, the country and the world were in a very different place than they are today. The pandemic had yet to transform our society, and the recent turmoil over vaccine mandates, public health research and science itself, were still unimaginable.

Dean Jha’s leadership approach—articulating a bold vision that emphasized collaboration and real-world impact—guided the school through the rough waters of the COVID-19 pandemic. A public health moment became a movement. Building on the existing strong foundation of faculty and staff, Dean Jha added an exciting new cohort of faculty to the school: public health professionals that include economists, lawyers and communicators. The school became a bustling hub of multidisciplinary impact.

By broadening our collective understanding of where public health happens, Jha empowered the school’s faculty, staff and students to build a stronger, more resilient institution—one that is better prepared to tackle the big challenges facing public health. The results were profound including a doubling of graduate student enrollment, increasing sponsored research revenue to more than $90 million annually and launching an office in Washington D.C. to strengthen the school’s policy impact.

As the school prepares to say farewell to Dean Jha after five extraordinary years, it is a moment to reflect on a time of historic growth at Brown. Driven by a multidisciplinary approach focused on the intersection between real-world issues and rigorous research, the school has expanded its research portfolio and increased access to a Brown education. 

Expanding Brown Research

Over the past five years, the School of Public Health has greatly expanded its areas of impact, launching four new research centers and multiple labs and research programs. These new hubs of research and translation have quickly built on the school’s historical strengths in areas such as gerontology, mindfulness, global health and addiction studies.

woman speaks to a man at a business event

2022: Pandemic Center

The School of Public Health launched the Pandemic Center in 2022 to recruit national leaders ready to advance the work of pandemic preparedness and expand the school’s impact on one of the most urgent public health and national security challenges of our time. With its multidisciplinary faculty based in Providence and Washington, D.C., the center is building resilience to the next global pandemic by developing the policies and practices needed to strengthen international response efforts.

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Andy Ryan at launch event podium

2023: Center for Advancing Health Policy through Research

The School of Public Health launched the Center for Advancing Health Policy through Research (CAHPR) in 2023 to generate the highest-quality evidence to advance discussions around health care affordability, access and value in the United States, and to translate that information toward policy change. With over 182 publications already under its belt, this new center is making a difference in a nation that spends nearly double the resources of its peers on health care.

“Ashish has shown tremendous leadership at Brown,” said Andrew Ryan, professor of health services, policy and practice and CAHPR director. “He ushered in a new era of policy-engaged research and strengthened our role in national health policy conversations.”

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group smiles for camera at center launch event

2024: Center for Health System Sustainability

By leveraging patient-level data and global health partnerships, the Center for Health System Sustainability (CHeSS) gathers knowledge from across the globe to identify how health systems can optimize patient care and health outcomes. CHeSS was launched in 2024 to produce comparative insights and actionable policy recommendations, and has produced rich research that can benefit patients worldwide.  

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2025: The Center for Climate, Environment & Health 

As we recently lived through the hottest summer in human history, faculty from the Center for Climate, Environment & Health (CCEH) are developing statistical methods to highlight the combined impacts of climate change, air pollution and environmental health on human well-being. Launched in 2025, the CCEH is currently evaluating the roles of emissions from coal plants in local cases of lung and heart disease, and examining the risks of forever chemicals on expectant mothers and their children.

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Focus on Education

Combining innovation and inclusion, the School of Public Health has made public health training at Brown more accessible over the past five years. The establishment of two new scholarship programs and the founding of Brown University’s first-ever entirely online degree program significantly expanded the School of Public Health’s reach. These initiatives and more are opening doors to students and supporting them on their public health journeys.

Today, graduate student enrollment at Brown’s School of Public Health is at an all-time high with more than 660 graduate students actively enrolled—more than doubling since Jha’s arrival in 2020 and making it the largest graduate population in the school’s history. Meanwhile, over 160 undergraduate students are currently pursuing public health or statistics concentrations at Brown.

Online MPH & Online Sc.M.

In 2022, the School of Public Health launched the fully Online MPH and, in 2024, the Online Sc.M. in biostatistics—two uniquely personalized and collaborative programs that meet the needs of working professionals. The goal of Brown’s first fully-online degree programs is both simple and ambitious: equip the next generation of public health leaders with the data analysis capability, public health knowledge and leadership skills needed to tackle the global health challenges of our time. Brown’s online public health programs have brought an exciting new cohort of Brunonians to the school, many of whom have rich professional experience that sets them apart in the field.

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Health Equity Scholars & NextGen Scholars

Early in his tenure, Dean Jha laid the groundwork for the Health Equity Scholars and NextGen Scholars programs, scholarship and leadership development opportunities for select students entering the Master of Public Health or Master of Science degree in biostatistics programs at Brown, respectively. The programs’ cohorts are drawn from a pool of exceptional graduates from community colleges, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI), rural communities and local communities in Rhode Island. Today, the programs boast a network of more than 80 students and alumni, poised to make a significant contribution to the field of public health.

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Making Space for a Growing Mission

Propelled by a pivotal role on the national stage during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and the addition of 51 expert faculty members and three new degree pathways, the School of Public Health has undergone a period of remarkable growth. To meet its strategic priorities, the school has expanded its space over the past five years, including acquiring an office in the nation’s capital. 

These milestones have firmly established the school as a leader in the field, transforming it into a primary driver of not only national conversation but also health-improving policy.

Offices at the National Press Building

The School of Public Health has also expanded materially in the past five years, adding new offices in Washington, D.C. at the National Press Building. These spaces support the national impact of our research centers by providing an outpost in the nation’s capitol for convenings and events, complementing the work of Brown scholars dedicated to driving federal policy. 

The Packet Building & 66 Pavilion

In Providence, the School of Public Health has also expanded to accommodate the school’s growth, acquiring the Packet Building at 155 South Main Street, which is now home to the Mindfulness Center, the Survey, Qualitative and Applied Data Research Core and the Hassenfeld Child Health Innovation Institute. 

The school has also established a space at 66 Pavilion Avenue in Providence, where its People, Place & Health Collective works on community-focused initiatives and research.

Snapshot: Five Years of Impact

Brown's School of Public Health has grown in many ways over the last five years. See the breakdown by the numbers:

1200

School of Public Health graduates

processed across Brown's Commencement stage

51

New faculty members appointed

including multidisciplinary experts in health policy, law and economics

4

New research centers established

to tackle today's most pressing public health challenges

3

New degree pathways offered

including Online MPH, Online Sc.M. and Accelerated MPH

1 st

Brown University online degree

transforming access to Brown's public health programs

$ 90 million

Additional sponsored research revenue, annually,

funding rigorous research at the School of Public Health

Tags
School of Public Health Health Equity Scholars Online MPH MPH program Faculty News

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